FAMOUS INDIAN PERSONALITIES

Gautam Buddha
Gautam Buddha was one of the greatest religious teachers that the
world has seen. He is the founder of Buddhism, a religion that is
popular in Burma, China, Japan, Thailand and other South Eastern
Countries.
The Buddha was born in 563 B.C. as Siddhartha, the prince of
Kapilavastu (In Nepal). Gautam Buddha's mother died at childbirth
and he was brought up by his mother's sister Prajapati Gotami.
It was predicted that Siddhartha would give up worldly pleasures and
follow a simple life. Siddhartha's father the King wanted to avoid
this at all costs and did not let him out of the palace. He hoped
that Siddhartha would one day become king.
The name Siddhartha means "wish-fulfilled" or "one who has
accomplished his goal".
When Siddhartha became a young man he ventured out of the Palace and
saw suffering, pain and death for the first time. This experience
changed his life. Though Siddhartha was married to a beautiful
princess called Yashodhara and had a son Rahul, at the age of about
30 years Siddhartha left the palace in search of the truth about
life.
He spent many years in the company of saints and finally one day
when he was sitting under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya (Bihar, India)
he was blessed with the divine light. This was the turning point, as
he realized the truth is within every human being. The search
outside was pointless. After this he was known as ' Buddha' or the
enlightened one.
For 45 years, Buddha spread his message of a spiritual life with 8 -
fold path towards salvation - Right speech
Right Understanding
Right Determination
Right deeds
Right efforts
Right awareness
Right thinking and
Right living.
According to Buddhism, by following this path one could overcome
desires, which are the root cause of grief and misery.
Buddha died in 483 BC at the age of 80 years.

Rani Laxmibai
Rani Laxmibai was born in 1830 at Banaras in a wealthy family
and was named Manukarnika at birth. She learned to read, write,
use weapons at an early age.
She accepted the name Lakshmi Bai when she married Gangadhar Rao,
the Maharajah of Jhansi and became the Rani of Jhansi at the
tender age of 14. Gangadhar Rao's grandfather had signed a
treaty with the British which granted him and his heirs and
successors title to rule Jhansi.
Gangadhar Rao did not have any children and he adopted one of
his relatives Damodar Rao as his heir. After Gangadhar Rao's
death in 1853 the British(who had colonized most of India by
then) refused to accept Damodar Rao as the legal heir of Jhansi
and wanted to annex the kingdom into their rule.
According to Hindu law Damodar was the legal heir. Rani Laxmibai
appealed to the British rulers in London to accept Damodar as
the legal heir to the throne of Jhansi and not annex the kingdom
but the British refused. Despite her appeal the British took
over.
It 1857 there was a mutiny in the British Army at Meerut. In
Jhansi also the army rebelled and killed the British Army
Officers. This led to a state where the Rani was left to defend
herself and her kingdom from a coup. She took over the
administration of the kingdom once again.
In 1858 the British army once again marched towards Jhansi. Not
willing to let the British takeover her kingdom the Rani built
an army of 14,000 volunteers to fight the British. The soldiers
of Jhansi fought very bravely for 2 weeks and the Rani led the
forces in this battle. However after 2 weeks of fighting the
British took control of Jhansi. The queen escaped on horseback
to the fortress of Kalpi.
Here she organized a few other kingdoms to rebel against the
British. These rebel forces captured Gwalior from the British.
The British were determined to win back Gwalior and lay siege
there in 1858. It is during this battle that the Rani lost her
life.

She became a symbol of courage and freedom for the people of
India.

Swami Vivekananda
Narendranath Dutt or Swami Vivekananda was a great social
reformer and Indian nationalist of the 19th century.
Vivekananda was the disciple of the great social reformer,
Ramakrishna Paramahansa. After his master's death,
Vivekananda organized the Ramakrishna Mission for the
upliftment of the poor folk whom he called the 'Daridra
Narayan.'
The following speech was delivered by Vivekananda at the
Parliament of world religions on 11 September, 1893. In
those times not many people knew about India and its great
religious heritage. The presence of Swamiji was greeted with
much enthusiasm and helped spread awareness about the
religious tradition in our country. HIS FAMOUS SPEECH AT THE PARLIAMENT OF WORLD
RELIGIONS (on September 11, 1893)Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response
to the warm and cordial welcome, which you have given us. I
thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in
the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of
religions; and I thank you in the name of millions and
millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform
who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told
you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the
honour of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration.
I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the
world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe
not only in universal toleration, but we accept all
religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation, which
has sheltered the persecuted, and the refugees of all
religions and all nations of the earth.
I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom
the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern
India and took refuge with us in the very year in which
their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny.
I am proud to belong to the religion, which has sheltered
and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian
nation.
I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which
I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which
is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the
different streams having their sources in different places
all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different
paths which men take through different tendencies, various
though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august
assemblies ever held, is in itself a, vindication, a
declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached
in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever
form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths
which in the end lead to me."
Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant,
fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They
have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and
often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent
whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible
demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is
now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the
bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention
may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all
persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all
uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to
the same goal.

Sri
Ramkrishna ParamhansaSri
Ramkrishna was born on 18.02.1836 in Kamarpukur, Hoogli
of Khudiram Chattopadhay and Chandramoni Devi. He was
the 4th child of his parents, after Ramkumar, Katyayani,
and Rameswar and a sister, Sarbamangala. Nicknamed as
Gadadhar he was a very reckless but god fearing boy
since childhood, and was deeply devoted to serve the
mother goddess Kali from a young age. He was inspired by
the leelas of Lord Krishna and tried to imitate his
feats. As a child he was matured for his age and earned
the love of all. He had an unusual memory interested in
Hindu mythology.
Once while playing the part of Shiva in the plays
performed during Shivaratri, he attained Vhava Samadhi.
His elder brother Ramkumar took him to Dakhineswar to
assist him in his works as a priest in the temple. In
1855 Rani Rashmoni of Janbajar offered him the job of
the priest of the Goddess Kali at Dakkhineshwar Temple.
Onlookers would crowd to see Ramkrishna performing puja
as they wanted to see the love and devotion with which
it was performed. At the age of 23, May 1859, he
married Saradamoni of Jairambati, whom he thought would
be his ideal life companion. Soon after, the urge of
finding the truth of life made him take sannyas under
the sage Totapuri who gave him the sobriquet,
Paramhansa.
His quest for truth continued with Bhairavi Ma and sages
in other religion. Though he attained Bhava Samadhi very
often, he was inclined to know the truth about human
existence. He started Adyitya Sadhana and realised god
exist in every form of life. In Jan 17, 1868, he stared
for a Tirthayatra along with Mathur Babu and his nephew
Hridoy. He visited places like Deoghar, Varanasi and
Vrindavan. He even worshipped Saradamoni in the same way
he worshipped the mother goddess which was known as
Shorshi puja.. He preached universal brotherhood, and
soon stalwarts like Kesab Sen, Shibnath Sastri, Girish
Ghosh and Narendranath Datta (later Swami Vivekananda)
became his disciples.
He developed a strange theological relation with
Narendranath and soon moulded him in his own way. He
taught Naren the truth of life by letting him see a
glimpse of the holy spirit. He taught Naren the truth of
life by letting him see a glimpse of the holy spirit. It
was Vivekananda in later days, who held high the
teachings of Sri Ramakishna to the world by forming the
Belur Math. In Jan 1st, 1886 in Kashipur Garden an
ailing Ramkrishna touched some of his disciples. Those
who were touched felt an unearthly feeling never felt
before. While some went speechless for a short while,
others moved into a state of Samadhi. This incident is
remembered by his disciples as Thakur taking the form of
a Kalpataru. The great preacher passed away in 16th
August, 1886.

Rana Pratap
Rajput (from Raj-Putra i.e. prince or literally
"king's son")
The Rajputs are a brave and a chivalrous race who
were feudal kings in ancient India before the
Mughals came. They were the first to resist the
Mughal invaders and many wars were fought between
the Rajputs and the Mughals. Though the Mughals
captured the north of India they were unsuccessful
in capturing central India where they faced tough
opposition from the Rajput kings there.
Akbar wanted to control the whole of India and used
a mix of tolerance, generosity, and force to over
come the Rajput kings. One of the most gallant
Rajput kings was Rana Pratap who did not want to
give up his kingdom to the Mughals.
Rana Pratap was the Grandson of Raja Udai Singh (Udaipur
is named after him), the king of Chittod.
Rana Pratap led the Rajputs against the army of
Akbar to preserve the independence of Mewar. Rana
Pratap not only had to face the mighty Mughals but
also had to fight against other Rajput kings(Raja
Todar Mal and Raja Man Singh ) who aligned with the
Mughals.
In the Battle of Haldighati(1576) fought between
Maharana Pratap and the Mughals; the Rajputs were
not able to overcome the combined strength of the
Mughals and the renegade Rajput princes who had
played the role of traitors. Maharana Pratap was
badly hurt in the battle and was saved by his wise
horse Chetak, who took him in an unconscious state
away from the battle scene.
Rana Pratap died in 1597 when his son Amar Singh
took over the kingdom.
Although Maharana Pratap was not able to thwart the
Muslims successfully, the saga of Rajput resistance
to Muslim rule continued till the 17th century when
the baton of the struggle for Indian Independence
from Mughals was taken up by the upcoming power of
the Marathas, who brought about an end to Muslim
domination of India.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (1627-1680)Shivaji was born of a
Maratha family in 1627 A.D. His father was a
chief of the kingdom of Bijapur. Though he was
high up, he was not allowed to control any fort.
In his early youth, Shivaji inspired the local
peasant youths around Poona to follow him in his
idealistic pursuits.
In his early, his band attacked the mountain
fort of Torna about twenty miles from Poona. He
took control from the fort as Governor. It was
characteristic of him immediately send a word to
the King of Bijapur, that he had done purely in
the king's interest as the ex-governor was not
given all the revenue due to the king. This
brought more time, and Shivaji used this
technique of cunningness to conquer more and
more such forts. The king eventually ordered
Shivaji to stop these activities. But Shivaji
knew that by now the whole region was behind him
and thus ignored any warnings from the King of
Bijapur.
The King then sent a small army under Afzal Khan
to catch him dead or alive. Shivaji now
portrayed even more cunning techniques. He
pretended to be extremely afraid of Afzal Khan
and his army, and offered to surrender
personally to him provided his well-being was
guaranteed. He suggested that he should be
accompanied by two unarmed followers to meet
Afzal Khan and two of his guards personally.
This was agreed to. When the meeting took place,
Afzal Khan (a big, stocky and giant of a figure,
compared to short and agile figure of Shivaji)
tried to kill Shivaji with a big embrace and
stab at Shivaji. Shivaji was however prepared
with a short knife under his palm. With a swift
action, he slayed the giant.
When the ruler in Delhi heard of this he sent
his general Shaista Khan to suppress this
uprising which was gaining momentum at great
speed. Shivaji had to abandon temporarily the
plains to a much more powerful Moghul army. With
the help of the locals, he could enter into the
living quarters of the general with his
followers and created chaos. He had caused
irreversible injury to the generals� body and
pride, so much so that he was recalled to Delhi.
Due to requirement of maintaining a large army,
Shivaji felt the need of finance. His next
crusade was to loot the Mughal city of Surat,
which was the centre of the rich, traders from
all over. He is likened here to Robin Hood here.
No injury to women, children of elderly was ever
caused. This wealth gave Shivaji sufficient
wherewithal to continue his crusade.
This time the Mughal emperor sent a vast army
under its senior general, Jai Singh. After a few
skirmishes Shivaji thought it prudent nominally
to accept the emperor's sovereignty and offered
to come to court itself to pay homage. The trick
worked and his army remained intact. He
proceeded to Agra to present himself at the
mughal court. However the perfidious emperor
arrested him. As is well known, Shivaji tricked
his jailors and escaped. By the time he returned
to Poona, his army was in good condition. This
was his opportunity to give a crushing defeat to
the retreating armies.
Shivaji drew strength from the guidance of his
guru, Guru Ramdas who together with mata Jijabai
in his young life, made him a national hero.
Now Shivaji had an unquestioned sway over a big
area. Fort Raigad was to become the centre of
power and prowess. During the coronation
ceremony he gave magnificent gifts to holy men
and the poor. He died after three years. His son
could not amass sufficient strength to finish
the work of liberation throughout Bharat.
Nevertheless, Shivaji had laid the foundation of
a great Hindu empire which lasted for two
centuries.

KrishnadevarayaSri Krishnadevaraya
(1509-1529 CE) was the most famous king of
Vijayanagara empire. Presiding over the empire
at its zenith, he is regarded as a hero by
Kannadigas and Telugu people, and one of the
great kings of India. Emperor Krishnadevaraya
also earned the titles Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana,
Moorurayaraganda (meaning King of three kings)
and Andhra Bhoja. Much of our information about
his reign comes from the accounts of Portuguese
travelers Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz.
Krishnadevaraya was assisted in administration
by the very able prime minister Timmarusu, who
was revered by the king as a father figure and
was responsible for his corronation.
Krishnadevaraya was the son of Nagala Devi and
Tuluva Narasa Nayaka[1] an army commander under
Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya, who later took
control of the reign of the empire to prevent it
from disintegration. The king's coronation took
place on the birthday of Lord Krishna and his
earliest inscription is from July 26, 1509 AD.
He built a beautiful suburb near Vijayanagara
called Nagalapura in memory of his mother.

Akbar
the GreatAkbar is considered to be
one of the greatest Mughal rulers as during his
reign the Mughal empire tripled in size and
wealth.
Akbar was the 3rd ruler of the Mughal empire.
Son of Humayun, Akbar was born in Umarkot
(Pakistan), and succeeded to the throne at the
age of 13 when his father suddenly died. For the
next 5 years Bairam Khan (regent) helped Akbar
rule the kingdom. In 1561 Bairam Khan died and
Akbar took over the government in his own hands.
Akbar knew that, to be a successful ruler of the
India subcontinent he needed to integrate the
Hindus in his empire. He won the allegiance of
the Rajputs (Hindu warriors) by a good mix of
tolerance, generosity, and force. He won over
the Hindus by appointing them to important
military and civil positions, conferring honours
upon them, and marrying a Hindu princess.
Having got the cooperation of the Hindus, Akbar
built his kingdom that extended from Afghanistan
to the Bay of Bengal and from the Himalayas to
the Godavari River.
Did You Know Akbar's greatest achievement was
the establishment of a very effective
administrative system. He was also very tolerant
towards other faiths and religions and let
people practice their faiths independently. He
also was a reformist and abolished laws that
were unfair. All this made Akbar very popular
with his subjects.
Abul Fazal's 2 works - Akbar-nama and
Ain-I-Akbari are accounts of Akbar's court.
The famous singer Tansen was a part of Akbar's
court.
Under his rule Arts and Architecture flourished.
He had a library of over 24,000 books and he
setup a department for translation in his court.
He ordered the translation of the Ramayana and
the Mahabharata. He built the Red fort at Agra
and also Fatehpur Sekri in honour of Sheikh
Salim Chishti.
Birbal was one of Akbar's courtiers who adopted
the Din-E-Illahi as his religion.
He introduced a new religion, Din-E- Illahi, in
1582. It contained the teachings mainly from
Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. He did not
force the religion on his people and the
religion did not become very popular.
Akbar died in 1605 and was succeeded by Jahangir,
his son from his Hindu wife Jodhabai.

Mohandas Karamchand GandhiFor Indians around the
world, the name Mahatma Gandhi needs no
introduction.
Probably the most famous freedom fighter in
the struggle for India's independence,
Mahatma Gandhi is fondly referred to as the
father of the nation. A lawyer by profession
Mahatma Gandhi first came in the limelight
for his defense of the rights of Indians in
far away South Africa.
His principles of fearlessness, non-violence
and social equality won him many followers.
He soon emerged as the leader of the Indian
freedom movement and led the country to
independence in 1947.
The following speech was given by Mahatma
Gandhi in 1942 while starting the Quit India
movement.
DO OR DIE
Congress committee meeting, Mumbai August 8,
1942
Nevertheless, the actual struggle does not
commence this moment. You have only placed
all your powers in my hands. I will now wait
upon the Viceroy and plead with him for the
acceptance of the Congress demand. That
process is likely to take two or three
weeks. What would you do in the mean while?
What is the program, for the interval, in
which all can participate? As you know, the
spinning wheel is the first thing that
occurs to me. I made the same answer to the
Maulana. He would have none of it, though he
understood its import later. The fourteen
fold constructive Program is, of Course,
there for you to carry out. What more should
you do? I will tell you. Every one of you
should, from this moment onwards, consider
yourself a free man or woman, and act as if
you are free and are no longer under the
heel of this imperialism.
It is not a make-believe that I am
suggesting to you. It is the very essence of
freedom. The bond of the slave is snapped
the moment he considers himself to be a free
being. He will plainly tell the master: 'I
was your bond slave till this moment, but I
am a slave no longer. You may kill me if you
like, but if you keep me alive, I wish to
tell you that if you release me from the
bondage of your own accord, I will ask for
nothing more from you. You used to feed and
clothe me, though I could have provided food
and clothing for myself by my labour. I
hitherto depended on you instead of on God,
for food and raiment. God has now inspired
me with an urge for freedom and I am today a
free man and will no longer depend on you.'
You may take it from me that I am not going
to strike a bargain with the Viceroy for
ministries and the like. I am not going to
be satisfied with anything short of complete
freedom. Maybe, he will propose the
abolition of salt tax, the drink evil, etc.
But I will say 'Nothing less than freedom.'
Here is a mantra, a short one that I give
you. You may imprint it on your hearts and
let every breath of yours give expression to
it. The mantra is: 'Do or Die.' We shall
either free India or die in the attempt; we
shall not live to see the perpetuation of
our slavery. Every true Congressman or
[Congress] woman will join the struggle with
an inflexible determination not to remain
alive to see the country in bondage and
slavery. Let that be your pledge.
Keep jails out of your consideration. If the
Government keeps me free, I will spare you
the trouble of filling the jails. I will not
put on the Government the strain of
maintaining a large number of prisoners at a
time when it is in trouble. Let every man
and woman live every moment of his or her
life hereafter in the consciousness that he
or she eats or lives for achieving freedom
and will die, if need be, to attain that
goal.
Take a pledge with God and your own
conscience as witness, that you will no
longer rest till freedom is achieved and
will be prepared to lay down your lives in
the attempt to achieve it. He who loses his
life will gain it; he who will seek to save
it shall lose it. Freedom is not for the
coward or the faint hearted.
A word to the journalists. I congratulate
you on the support you have hitherto given
to the national demand. I know the
restrictions and handicaps under which you
have to labour. But I would not ask you to
snap the chains that bind you. It should be
the proud privilege of the newspapers to
lead and set an example in laying down one's
life for freedom.
It is my duty to warn the Princes that if
they will act while I am still alive, the
Princes may come to occupy an honorable
place in free India. In Jawaharlal's scheme
of free India, no privileges or the
privileged classes have a place. Jawaharlal
considers all property to be State-owned. He
wants planned economy. He wants to
reconstruct India according to plan. He
likes to fly; I do not. I have kept a place
for the Princes and the zamindars in India
that I envisage. I would ask the Princes in
all humility to enjoy through renunciation.
The Princes may renounce ownership over
their properties and become their trustees
in the true sense of the term. I visualize
God in the assemblage of people. The Princes
may say to their people: 'You are the owners
and masters of the State and we are your
servants.'
Nothing, however, should be done secretly.
This is an open rebellion. In this struggle
secrecy is a sin. A free man would not
engage in a secret movement. It is likely
that when you gain freedom you will have a
C.I.D. of your own, in spite of my advice to
the contrary. But in the present struggle,
we have to work openly and to receive the
bullets on our chest, without taking to
heels.
I have a word to say to the Government
servants also. They may not, if they like,
resign their posts yet. The late Justice
Ranade did not resign his post, but he
openly declared that he belonged to the
Congress. I would ask all the Government
servants to follow in the footsteps of
Ranade and to declare their allegiance to
the Congress as an answer to the secret
circular issued by Sir Frederick Puckle.
Soldiers too are covered by the present
program. I do not ask them just now to
resign their posts and leave the army.
Soldiers come to me, Jawaharlal and to the
Maulana and say: "We are wholly with you. We
are tired of the governmental tyranny." To
these soldiers I would say: "You may say to
the government, 'our hearts are with the
Congress. We are not going to leave our
posts. We will serve you so long as we
receive your salaries. We will obey your
just orders, but will refuse to fire on our
own people.' "
If the students want to join the struggle
only to go back to their studies after a
while, I would not invite them to it. For
the present, however, till the time that I
frame a program for the struggle, I would
ask the students to say to their professors:
'we belong to the Congress. Do you belong to
the Congress or to the Government? If you
belong to the Congress, you need not vacate
your posts. You will remain at your posts
but teach us and lead us unto freedom.' In
all fights for freedom, the world over, the
students have made very large contributions.
For the last twenty-two years, I have
controlled my speech and pen and have stored
up my energy. He is a true brahmachari who
does not fritter away his energy. He will,
therefore, always control his speech. That
has been my conscious effort all these
years. But today the occasion has come when
I had to unburden my heart before you. I
have done so, even though it meant putting a
strain on your patience; and I do not regret
having done it. I have given you my message
and through you I have delivered it to the
whole of India.

Jawahar Lal NehruJawahar Lal Nehru
was born into an affluent Indian family.
At the age of 14 he was sent to England
where he studied at Harrow Public
School. He went on to Cambridge and
later studied law at Inner Temple. He
joined the Congress and was elected the
president of the party four times. In
1947 he became the first Prime Minister
of India. He tried to work for a better
life of Indian people.
Here is a famous speech which he
delivered on the eve of India's
independence inside the Parliament of
India (Near midnight before August 15,
1947).
TRYST WITH DESTINYLong years ago we
made a tryst with destiny, and now the
time comes when we shall redeem our
pledge, not wholly or in full measure,
but very substantially. At the stroke of
the midnight hour, when the world
sleeps, India will awake to life and
freedom.
A moment comes, which comes but rarely
in history, when we step out from the
old to the new, when an age ends, and
when the soul of a nation, long
suppressed, finds utterance. It is
fitting that at this solemn moment we
take the pledge of dedication to the
service of India and her people and to
the still larger cause of humanity.
At the dawn of history India started on
her unending quest, and trackless
centuries are filled with her striving
and the grandeur of her success and her
failures. Through good and ill fortune
alike she has never lost sight of that
quest or forgotten the ideals which gave
her strength.
We end today a period of ill fortune and
India discovers herself again. The
achievement we celebrate today is but a
step, an opening of opportunity, to the
greater triumphs and achievements that
await us. Are we brave enough and wise
enough to grasp this opportunity and
accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom
and power bring responsibility.
The responsibility rests upon
this Assembly, a sovereign body
representing the sovereign
people of India. Before the
birth of freedom we have endured
all the pains of labour and our
hearts are heavy with the memory
of this sorrow. Some of those
pains continue even now.
Nevertheless, the past is over
and it is the future that
beckons to us now.
That future is not one of ease
or resting but of incessant
striving so that we may fulfill
the pledges we have so often
taken and the one we shall take
today. The service of India
means the service of the
millions who suffer. It means
the ending of poverty and
ignorance and disease and
inequality of opportunity. The
ambition of the greatest man of
our generation has been to wipe
every tear from every eye. That
may be beyond us, but as long as
there are tears and suffering,
so long our work will not be
over.

And so we
have to labour and to work, and
work hard, to give reality to
our dreams. Those dreams are for
India, but they are also for the
world, for all the nations and
peoples are too closely knit
together today for any one of
them to imagine that it can live
apart. Peace has been said to be
indivisible; so is freedom, so
is prosperity now, and so also
is disaster in this One World
that can no longer be split into
isolated fragments.
To the people of India, whose
representatives we are, we make
an appeal to join us with faith
and confidence in this great
adventure. This is no time for
petty and destructive criticism,
no time for ill will or blaming
others. We have to build the
noble mansion of free India
where all her children may
dwell.

Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel the 'The Iron Man of India' Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born in
Gujarat on 31st of October 1875 into a family of patriots.
His father was a farmer and fought for India's freedom from
the British. Vithalbhai, Vallabhbhai's elder brother, was
also a well-known patriot. He was the Chairman of the Indian
Legislative Council.
From a young age itself Vallabhbhai was very courageous and
raised his voice against injustice. His ambition was to
become a barrister like his brother. He studied very hard
and travelled to England and passed the Barrister-at-Law
Examination. After he returned to India he setup a practice
in Ahmedabad which was very successful and he earned a lot
of money.
Around this time the struggle for freedom was gaining a lot
of momentum. Gandhiji attended a conference in Gujarat where
he met Vallabhbhai and they became friends.
In 1918, Vallabhbhai took the responsibility of leading the
farmers of Gujarat. He was very successful in his struggle
against the British and became a prominent leader in the
freedom struggle.
In 1920, the Congress started the non-cooperation struggle
and Vallabhbhai gave up his practice. He setup the Gujarat
Vidyapeeth where children could study instead of attending
Government schools.
In 1928 he successfully organised the landowners of Bardoli
against British tax increases. It was after this that
Vallabhbhai was given the title of Sardar(Leader).
In 1931 he served as President of the Indian National
Congress. He was sent to jail by the British and freed only
in 1934.
In 1942 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was again sent to jail
because of the start of the "Quit India Movement".
1n 1947 when India got freedom Sardar Patel became the
Deputy Prime Minister. He was in charge of Home Affairs,
Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of States. He
was given the task of organizing 600 states into one nation.
He took strong steps like sending the army to Junagadh and
Hyderabad to force them to align with free India. It is
because of these strong steps that earned him the title of
"The man of steel".
Sardar Vallabhbhai passed away in Bombay on the morning of
the 15th December 1950.
His famous quotes :
On the British "Why are you afraid of the English? If the people are united
no government can do anything."
On truth "I cannot speak anything but the truth. I cannot turn back
on my duty, just to please some one."

Netaji Subhash
Chandra BoseSubhash Chandra Bose was born on
January 23, 1897 at Cuttack, in Orissa. He was the sixth
son of Janakinath and Prabhavati Bose.
Subhash was an excellent student and after school joined
the Presidency College, Calcutta, where he studied
philosophy, a subject he was interest in.
As a young boy Subhash felt neglected among his 8
siblings. At his English school he suffered under the
discrimination faced by Indians which made him even
sadder.
He wanted to work for the poor but his father, had other
ideas. He sent Subhash to England to appear for the
Indian Civil Service. In July 1920, barely eight months
later Subhash Chandra Bose appeared in the Civil Service
Examination and passed it with distinction. But he
didn't want to be a member of the bureaucracy and
resigned from the service and returned to India.
Back home, he participated in the freedom movement along
with 'Deshbandhu' C.R. Das. He was thrown into jail but
that only made him more determined. Subhash joined the
congress and rose to its Presidentship in 1938 a post he
held for 2 years.
In 1939, when the Second World War started Gandhiji and
other leaders were against doing anything anti-Britain.
But Subhash thought differently. He knew, for instance,
that the fall of the Roman Empire had led to the freedom
of its colonies. He decided to seek foreign help for his
cause of freeing India.
He was arrested and kept in his house under detention.
On January 17, 1941, while everyone was asleep, Bose
slipped out of his house into a waiting car. Disguised
as a Muslim religious teacher, Bose managed to reach
Peshawar two days later.
Bose went to Italy, Germany and even Russia to seek help
but without much use. Subash decided to organize Indians
on his own. He landed in Singapore and grouped Indians
there into the Indian National Army or the Azad Hind
Fauj and declared himself the temporary leader of the
free Indian government. Japan, Germany and Italy
recognizied Subhash's government and the whole of India
rejoiced.
The INA marched to Andaman and Nicobar islands,
liberating and renaming them as Shaheed and Swaraj
islands. On March 18, 1944, it crossed the Burmese
border and reached Manipur where free India's banner was
raised with the shouts of 'Jai Hind' and 'Netaji
Zindabad'. But heavy rain prevented any further movement
and the units had to fall back. Even then Netaji was
determined. On August 17, 1945, he issued a Special
Order to the INA which said that "Delhi is still our
goal".
He then wanted to go to Russia to seek Soviet help to
fight the British. But the ill-fated plane in which he
was flying, crashed in Taipei on August 18, 1945,
resulting in his death.
Some people believe that Subhash Chandra Bose didn't
die, that he faked his own crash to escape the British
who wanted to arrest him. There were even reports of
Bose living in Russia and other foreign countries, even
some claims of having seen him as a sadhu but none were
ever proved and today his death in the plane crash is
the accepted version.

Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu was one
of the most prominent leaders of India's
freedom struggle. Born on February 13, 1879
in Hyderabad, Sarojini was the eldest
daughter of Varasundari and Dr. Aghornath
Chattopadhyaya, who was a scientist and
founder-principal of Nizam College of
Hyderabad. Her mother Varasundari was a
Bengali poetess.
Sarojini's father aspired for her to become
a mathematician or scientist, but young
Sarojini was drawn towards poetry from a
very early age. Seeing her flair for poetry,
her father decided to encourage her. With
her father's support, she wrote the play
"Maher Muneer" in the Persian language. Dr.
Chattopadhyaya sent a copy to the Nawab of
Hyderabad who was very impressed by the
beautiful play written by her. Sarojini got
a scholarship to study abroad and got
admitted to King's College, London and then
later at Girton College, Cambridge.
Sarojini met Dr. Govind Naidu, during her
stay in England and later married him at a
time when inter-caste marriages were not
allowed.
The poetess in Sarojini had now blossomed
fully. Her poems were beautiful and lyrical
and could be sung. Her collection of poems
"Golden Threshold" was published in 1905 and
she was soon given the nickname - "Bul Bule
Hind" or the "Nightingale of India". After
that, she published two other collections of
poems--"The Bird of Time" and "The Broken
Wings". "Feast of Youth" followed in 1918.
Her poetry was admired by the likes of
Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Soon after, she met Shree Gopal Krishna
Gokhale and Gandhi and was influenced by
them. Sarojini was now whole-heartedly
working for India's freedom movement. Her
poems poured enthusiasm and hope in the
hearts of the masses as they became united
in the struggle for freedom. Naidu also
travelled across India and campaigned for
the rights of women. She was responsible for
establishing self-esteem in Indian women.
In 1925, Sarojini became the first Indian
woman president of the National
Congress--having been preceded eight years
earlier by the English feminist Annie Besant.
She travelled far and wide, to places like
South Africa and North America, lecturing on
the Congress movement. She accompanied
Gandhi to London for the inconclusive second
session of the Round Table Conference for
Indian-British cooperation (1931). Back in
India her anti-British activities brought
her a number of prison sentences (1930,
1932, and 1942-43).
When India finally became free in 1947, she
was appointed Governor of the United
Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), to become the
first Indian woman governor, a post she
retained till her death.
Naidu's was also elected a fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature in recognition
of her literary contributions.
The Nightingale passed away on March 2,
1949. However the legacy that she has left
behind will continue to inspire future
generations of India. Her birthday is
proudly celebrated as Women's day.

Chandrasekhara
Venkata Raman (1888 - 1970) Sir CV Raman was
one of the brilliant scientists of India
who won the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his
discovery of the 'Raman Effect.' (The
discovery that monochromatic light ray
in the incident beam can be split up
into a number of components with wave
length smaller or greater than that of
the incident ray).
In 1934, he founded the Indian Academy
of Sciences and in 1948, the Raman
Research Institute.
In addition to being a great scientist,
CV Raman was a superb speaker. The
following speech delivered at the
convocation ceremony of the Agra
University is a good example of his
eloquence.
Born at Thiruvanaikkaval in Tamil Nadu,
Raman studied at Presidency College,
Madras. Later, he served as Professor of
Physics at Calcutta University. C.V.
Raman won the Nobel Prize for an
important research in the field of
optics (light). Raman had found that
diffused light contained rays of other
wavelengths-what is now popularly known
as Raman Effect. His theory explains why
the frequency of light passing through a
transparent medium changes.
CONVOCATION ADDRESS (18 November
1950)It is no small honour to be asked to
address the Convocation of a University
in India, and certainly it is a unique
experience for me, at any rate, to be
called upon to address a University
Convocation at one place a second time.
I know poverty and misery and I quite
appreciate by personal experience what
it is to be poor, what it is to have no
clothes, what it is to have no books,
what it is to struggle through life,
what it is to walk through the streets
without an umbrella, without conveyance
along miles in dusty wards, I have been
through it all and I can understand the
difficulties that most of you graduates
have to face up today. I'm speaking from
a long experience of 60 years. Please do
not imagine that all the 60 years are
milk and roses. To be able to accomplish
something I want to tell you that you
have to go through such experience.
I admit, success in life is not always
to the intelligent or the strong and it
is to some extent a bit of a gamble, but
nonetheless those who have got their
minds right and those who know their job
will sooner or later, sooner perhaps
than later make their way in life. But
they should not be disappointed if they
do not they have to face up life and
take it as they find it. This is the
kind of philosophy that I have learnt by
experience, and I make a free gift of it
to you all.
What I say is this that the great things
in life are not really great things in
life. The Nobel Prize, the F.R.S. and
the like, many of them leave a bitter
taste in the mouth. What I love is to
enjoy the common things of life. I am
happy that I am still able to sleep at
night provided I have three miles walk
in the evening. I am still able to enjoy
a good lunch or a good dinner. I am
still able to look at the blue sky and
like it. I still like to walk in the
open fields and like the smell of the
Ragi or the Jowar. I feel a younger man
when I see the Babul flower and say God
has given us these wonderful things.
That is the real philosophy of life to
appreciate what we see round us.
We think that happiness consists in
going to pictures and seeing thrilling
films and techni-colour dramas. Not at
all, the great things in life are the
God-given things which cost nothing.
What you need is the desire to
appreciate them. If you have your minds
and hearts open, you have around you
things which give you joy. There is the
butterfly jumping about in flourishing
colours on all sides. Look at this
wonderful thing that God has given for
our enjoyment.
We have to love nature ad appreciate
nature and appreciate her wonderful
gifts, her marvelous ingenuity, her
resourcefulness, her infinite variety.
It is the same thing that has inspired
me all my life. I study science not
because anything is going to happen to
me but because I feel it is a kind of
worship of this great Goddess, Nature of
which we are a part. That has been my
inspiration as a man of science. I feel
now that is one thing that can always
make a man happy, the small things in
life not only in nature - our old
friends, old music and the things that
we have around us. Many a time I would
like to go back to them. It may be a sign of cynicism, but 1
would like to go back to the common
things of life. A glass of cold water,
for example, gives us vigour and
freshness. (Dr. Raman so saying drank a
glass of cold water amidst laughter). I
can assure you there is no pleasure in
this world for a healthy man, then after
a vigorous exercise or doing something
hard just to go home and have a glass of
cold water. If you have lost the
capacity to appreciate that, you may as
well drink a cup of hemlock, as Socrates
had to do.
I have another word to say. We all speak
of patriotism. What is patriotism? I
want you to think it over and in the
last analysis bring down patriotism to a
physical term. I have thought over the
problem. Patriotism as well as a number
of things boil down to the love of the
earth. We are of the earth. When we die
we return to the earth, dust to dust,
ashes to ashes, the human body whether
cremated or buried returns to earth.
Seeta was of earth and returned to
earth. This good earth sustains us. On
earth grows green grass, which the cow
cats and which a vegetarian like myself
as well as a non-vegetarian gets milk
from. Ultimately it is the earth and the
things that grow upon it that sustain us
and feed us and make human life
possible. I think ultimately the love
for the land means the love of the earth
which has borne us and which sustains
us. I want you to appreciate the meaning
of love of earth.
The love of mother earth should be shown
by tending her. If she is ruthlessly
raped and. destroyed, we shall also die
with her. The tremendous problem of lack
of food in the country boils down to
this that we have left the love of earth
to ignorant people who know nothing of
the advance of science. We educated
people who understand science, do not
love mother earth. Knowledge of science
will make us create anything, but unless
we have that vision, that desire to love
mother earth, we shall not make any
advance.
I think it is a duty laid on every
educated man to create something, to see
something grow. I say this not as a part
of the 'grow more food campaign', I have
not been paid to do propaganda for it. I
am telling you about it in the same
spirit that a famous Roman did. When
once Rome was in danger the people
wanted to have him as a dictator to save
Rome. When they went to him they found
him ploughing the land with his own
hands and tending his farm. After he
became a dictator he went back to the
land and said, these plants I have
grown, I give them water, I give them
labour and they repay. We should work in
this spirit.
The more you help a man, the less
grateful he is to you. It is, however,
our duty to help fellow beings and we
should not expect them to show any
gratitude in return. If they do show, we
are very happy and more fortunate. The
plant on earth will never fail to repay
any attention that we bestow on it. We
must go back to earth and regard it as
our supreme duty to do something to
produce the things on which we live. It is a great privilege to see such a
great body of young people, women and
men alike who are entering the pathways
of life after, a course of study in
colleges and university and to be
allowed to speak to them and making a
heart to heart speech gives me great
pleasure.
I never believe in manuscript eloquence
or in after dinner speeches carefully
prepared 24 hours beforehand. I always
believe in standing up in front of my
audience, appreciate the situation and
speak to them heart to heart. I have no
desire at all to inflict unwanted advice
on you. I want you to think over what I
have told you and see if some little
thing that I have said may prove the
seed of some great achievement on your
part, sustain you, encourage you,
elevate your hearts above and so push
you on in life that you may rise
triumphant over all the difficulties and
all the troubles that are the common lot
of the common man in India today.

Rabindranath Tagore (The Nobel Prize in
Literature 1913)Rabindranath Tagore
(1861-1941) was the youngest son of Debendranath
Tagore, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a
new religious sect in nineteenth-century Bengal and
which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic
basis of Hinduism as laid down in the Upanishads. He
was educated at home; and although at seventeen he
was sent to England for formal schooling, he did not
finish his studies there. In his mature years, in
addition to his many-sided literary activities, he
managed the family estates, a project which brought
him into close touch with common humanity and
increased his interest in social reforms. He also
started an experimental school at Shantiniketan
where he tried his Upanishadic ideals of education.
From time to time he participated in the Indian
nationalist movement, though in his own
non-sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the
political father of modern India, was his devoted
friend. Tagore was knighted by the ruling British
Government in 1915, but within a few years he
resigned the honour as a protest against British
policies in India.
Tagore had early success as a writer in his native
Bengal. With his translations of some of his poems
he became rapidly known in the West. In fact his
fame attained a luminous height, taking him across
continents on lecture tours and tours of friendship.
For the world he became the voice of India's
spiritual heritage; and for India, especially for
Bengal, he became a great living institution.
Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary
genres, he was first of all a poet. Among his fifty
and odd volumes of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The
Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat],
Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914)
[Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of
Cranes]. The English renderings of his poetry, which
include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916),
and The Fugitive (1921), do not generally correspond
to particular volumes in the original Bengali; and
in spite of its title, Gitanjali: Song Offerings
(1912), the most acclaimed of them, contains poems
from other works besides its namesake. Tagore's
major plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark
Chamber], Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office],
Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara
(1922) [The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red
Oleanders]. He is the author of several volumes of
short stories and a number of novels, among them
Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the
World], and Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]. Besides
these, he wrote musical dramas, dance dramas, essays
of all types, travel diaries, and two
autobiographies, one in his middle years and the
other shortly before his death in 1941. Tagore also
left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for
which he wrote the music himself.

Lata
Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar was born
on September 28, 1929, in Indore. Her father,
Dinanath Mangeshkar, was a trained classical
singer who owned a traveling drama group. His
children were part of this nomadic life, which
involved camping all over Maharashtra. Dinanath
tried to compensate for the lack of regular
schooling of the children with music lessons.
Things were fine till around 1935 when the drama
company's plays starting flopping in succession
and Dinanath was forced to switch to singing at
the Pune Radio Station. The sheer frustuation of
failure was too much for Dinanath and he died
when Lata was only barely in her teens.
Poverty forced Lata to take up acting as a
career at the age of 13! She acted and sung in
Pahili Manglagaur, a Marathi film by Master
Vinayak Rao. Lata played the heroine's sister
and had three songs. About her acting experience
Lata says "I hated putting make-up, I hated
standing in the glare of lights. But I was the
breadwinner of the family, and there was hardly
any choice left. The day I went to work in
Master Vinayak's film, there was nothing to eat
in the house".
The success of the film Mahal, with the haunting
song 'Ayega, ayega, ayega ... ayega aane wala,
ayega, Have you heard these old Lata numbers?
ayega...', made Lata a famous singer. There was
no looking back.
Since the 1940's to the millennium - Lata has
sung for most leading actresses of Bollywood.
From Nargis, Madhubala and Nutan to Sadhna, Asha
Parekh and Sharmila Tagore to Zeenat Aman, Jaya
Bahaduri to Sridevi, Madhuri and Karishma there
has hardly been a Bollywood leading lady for
whom Lata has not sung.
'Ai mere watan ke logo','Mohe bhool gaye
sanwariya', 'Aaja re pardesi', 'Kahin deep jale
kahin dil', 'Jo vada kiya wo nibhana padega', 'Rasik
balma', 'Ye zindqgi usi ki hai', 'Mujhe Kuchh
kehna hai', 'Hum bane tum bane ek duje he liye'.
Lata has sung her way to the record books!
According to the Guinness Book of World Records,
Lata has the world record of having sung in
almost 20 languages for over 1,825 films and
worked with 165 composers.
Though the exact record is not available it is
believed that she has been the most prolific
singer in the world exceeding 8,000 recordings.
Recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 1969 and the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1989, Lata is the
voice that haunts Indians as they carry on with
their lives - in buses, trains, cinema houses,
in their houses and even in their heart as they
hum one of her unforgettable numbers.

Dhyan Chand Dhyan Chand was born
on 29 August 1905, in Allahabad, U.P. He
joined the army at the age of sixteen. Lance
Naik' Dhyan Chand first built a reputation
for himself while playing for the army.
At the Berlin Olympics in 1936, Dhyan Chand
could not play for finals against Germany,
as he was hurt. At half point, when India
led by only 1-0 Dhyan Chand removed his
shoes and entered the field bare foot. He
took India to a stunning victory scoring 6
more goals.
Adolf Hitler, the German dictator, was so
impressed by Dhyan Chand's performance in
the Berlin Olympic finals that he offered to
elevate 'Lance Naik' Dhyan to the rank of a
Colonel if he migrated to Germany. Of
course, Dhyan Chand refused.
It was hard for people to believe that
somebody could have the kind of hockey
skills Dhyan had. In Holland, the
authorities broke his hockey stick to check
if there was a magnet inside, in Japan they
felt Dhyan was using some glue which made
the ball stick to it.
Dhyan Chand scored over a thousand goals in
a career spanning 22 years (1926 -1948),
more than any other hockey player in the
world. A sports club in Vienna built a
statue of Dhyan Chand with four hands and
four sticks. To the Viennese, it seemed that
no ordinary man with two hands and one stick
could have played as well as Dhyan.
Inspite of all his achievements Dhyan Chand
was a simple man. His autobiography `Goal'
begins with the words "You are doubtless
aware that I am a common man!"

Vikram SethBorn in Calcutta
in 1952 to Prem Seth, a shoe company
executive, and Laila Seth, a judge,
Vikram Seth is the oldest of three
children in the Seth family.
He was sent away to Doon school, a
prestigious boarding school for boys, at
the age of six. As a young student
Vikram was very shy, "Incapable of
looking people in the eye," he says. But
what he lacked in sociability, he more
than made up by excelling at his
studies.
In 1992, Vikram was invited to Doon
School to give the Founder's Day speech.
In his speech, Vikram confessed "I had a
terrible feeling of loneliness and
isolation during my six years here. I
was teased and bullied by my classmates
and my seniors because of my interest in
studies and reading, because of my lack
of interest in games, because of my
unwillingness to join gangs and groups."
After passing his 'O level' exams with
distinction, Vikram won a scholarship to
Tonbridge School in Kent, U.K. From Kent
he soon went to the prestigious Oxford
University on another scholarship and
earned degrees in philosophy, economics,
and politics. Not content with all this,
Seth went to study at the Stanford
University in the U.S. for a Ph D. in
Economics. He spent the next 11 years
"not getting the degree", as he says.
Two of those years (1980-1982) were
spent in China, where Seth studied
poetry and languages at the Nanjing
University of China. It was while in
China that Vikram realized he was "more
interested in poetry than economics."
One day he was just browsing in a
bookstore when Vikram Seth happened upon
Russian poet Pushkin's 'Eugene Onegin',
a novel in sonnets. Seth was impressed,
as he himself had earlier toyed with the
idea of writing a novel in the verse
form. The book inspired him enough to
write 'The Golden Gate.'
In 1986, while still at Stanford, Seth
produced a novel entirely in rhythmic
verse (sonnets) called 'The Golden
Gate', a story about life in San
Francisco. Vikram had been
discouraged by many of his friends who
felt that the book would never sel,l but
he didn't mind their comments, even
included them into the text - "Drivelling
in rhyme's all very well/The question is
does spittle sell?"
'Golden Gate' was widely appreciated
when it was released and sold over a
100, 000 copies.
Seth's next novel 'A Suitable Boy' was
published in 1993 and shot him to
instant world fame, selling over a
million copies. The novel is the story
of an Indian mother's search
for a suitable match for her daughter,
set against the backdrop of life in
India in the 1950s. With 1,349 pages,
the book is the largest single volume
novel in English. In his introduction to
the book Seth urges potential readers:
"Buy me before good sense insists/You'll
strain your purse and sprain your
wrists."
Seth wrote the first hundred pages of 'A
Suitable Boy' and then lost momentum -
he decided that he didn't know enough
about the period he was trying to
re-create and spent the next year
researching!!! He read old newspapers
and records of legislative proceedings,
interviewed old freedom fighters and
musicians and even went to live for a
while in a remote village where he spent
time with leather workers.
Seth's second novel 'An Equal Music',
released in 1999, was a love story among
members of a music quartet. It deals
with the feelings of Michael, a
professional violinist who never
recovers from the loss of his only true
love, a pianist he knew as a student in
Vienna.
Works of Vikram Seth
Poetry - Mappings, All You Who Sleep
Tonight, The Humble Administrator's
Garden, Beastly Tales from Here and
There, Three Chinese Poets:
Translations.
Libretto - Arion and the Dolphin.
Travelogue - From Heaven Lake.
Novels - Golden Gate, A Suitable Boy, An
Equal Music.

Mother
TeresaAs a child Agnes
sang in a choir and also played the mandolin.

At the age of twelve
she felt for the first time the desire to
spend her life for Gods' work. She prayed a
lot over it and talked about it with her
family. She asked her father: "How can I be
sure?" He answered: "Through your joy. If
you feel really happy by the idea that God
might call you to serve Him, then this is
the evidence that you have a call."
In her teens, Agnes became a member of a
youth group in her local parish. Through her
involvement with the group she developed an
interest in the activities of missionaries.
She had a strong desire to help the poor and
needy.
When she was only 17, Agnes took up the
vocation of a Catholic missionary nun. She
went to Ireland and joined the Irish order,
the Sisters of Loretto, a community known
for their missionary work in India. When she
took her vows as a Sister of Loretto, she
chose the name Teresa after Saint Therese of Lisieux. Six weeks later, Teresa set sail to
Calcutta, India to serve as a teacher.

In Calcutta, Sister Teresa as
she was known taught geography and catechism (a way
of teaching the bible) at St. Mary's High School. In
1944, she became the principal of St. Mary's. In the
same year she contracted tuberculosis, and was sent
to Darjeeling for rest and recuperation. It was on
the train to Darjeeling that she received her second
call -- "the call within the call". Mother Teresa
recalled later,
"I was to leave the convent and work with the poor,
living among them to be God's Love in action to the
poorest of the poor. That was the beginning of the
Missionaries of Charity."
She sought the permission of the Vatican to leave
the Sisters of Loretto and pursue her desire of
helping the poor in 1948. She was granted permission
on the condition that she would not give up her
vows. Sister Teresa started a school in the slums to
teach the children of the poor. She also learned
basic medicine and nursing and went into the homes
of the sick to treat them.
In 1949, some of her former pupils joined her. The
group rented a room so they could care for helpless
people otherwise condemned to die in the gutter.
Mother Teresa adopted Indian citizenship, and her
nuns followed her practice of wearing a white sari
with a blue border (representing God's will) as
their habit.
In 1950, the group was established by the Church as
a Diocesan Congregation of the Calcutta Diocese. It
was named the Missionaries of Charity. Members of
the congregation take four vows on acceptance by the
religious community. In addition to the three basic
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, a fourth
vow is required pledging service to the poor, whom
Mother Teresa described as the embodiment of Christ.
In 1952, the Missionaries opened their first 'Home
for the Dying', 'Nirmal Hriday' (Pure heart) in
space made available by the Calcutta Municipal
authorities near a Kali temple. She and her fellow
nuns gathered dying Indians off the streets of
Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for
them in their last days. Ever since then, thousands
of men, women and children have been taken from the
streets of Calcutta and transported to Nirmal Hriday.
Under Mother Teresa's guidance, the Missionaries of
Charity have also built, near Asansol, India, a
leper colony called 'Shanti Nagar' (Town of Peace).
In an interview with Malcolm Muggeridge, in the book
'Something Beautiful for God', Mother Teresa tells
how she for the first time picked up a woman from
the street. "The woman was half eaten up by rats and
ants. I took her to the hospital, but they could do
nothing for her. They only took her because I
refused to go home unless something was done for
her. After they cared for her, I went straight to
the town hall and asked for a place where I could
take these people, because that day I found more
people dying in the street. The employee of health
services brought me to the temple of Kali and showed
me the "dormashalah" where the pilgrims used to rest
after they worshipped the goddess Kali. The building
was empty and he asked me if I wanted it. I was very
glad with the offer for many reasons, but especially
because it was the center of prayer for Hindus.
Within 24 hours we brought our sick and suffering
and started the Home for the Dying Destitutes."
Today there are over 450 homes of the Missionaries
in various parts of the world. The mission has grown
from 12 to thousands serving the "poorest of the
poor" in 450 centers from America to Albania. In
1966, the Missionaries of Charity Brothers was
founded.
Mother Teresa gained worldwide recognition with her
tireless efforts for the world's sick and homeless.
Her work brought her numerous humanitarian awards,
including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Mother Teresa was always thinking of ways to help
the poor. When she was invited to receive the Nobel
Prize in 1979 she insisted on a departure from the
ceremonial banquet and asked that the funds for the
same ($6,000) should be donated to the poor in
Calcutta. Mother Teresa's reason - the money saved
on just one banquet could help her to feed hundreds
for a year.
Beginning in 1980, homes began to spring-up for drug
addicts, prostitutes, battered women, and more
orphanages and schools for poor children around the
world.
In 1985, Mother Teresa established the first hospice
for AIDS victims in New York, U.S. In 1991, Mother
Teresa returned for the first time to her native
Albania (now known as Serbia) and opened a home in
Tirana. By this year, there were 168 homes
established in India alone.
Mother Teresa travelled around the world in her
quest. She reached out to help the hungry in
Ethiopia,
radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake
victims in Armenia. In 1982, during the siege of
Beirut, she convinced the Israeli army and
Palestinian guerillas to stop shooting long enough
for her to rescue 37 children trapped in a
front-line hospital. For the Mother, no place was
too dangerous for her, no destination too distant.
In November of 1996, Mother Teresa received the
honorary U.S. citizenship with the Medal of Freedom,
the highest U.S. civilian award.
Mother was helped in her cause by various
well-wishers. She recalls an incident:
"Once a chairman of a multinational company came to
see me, to offer me a property in Bombay, he first
asked: 'Mother, how do you manage your budget?" I
asked him who had sent him here. He replied: 'I felt
an urge inside me.' I said: "Other people like you
come to see me and say the same. It was clear God
sent you, Mr. A, as He sends Mr. X, Mrs. Y, Miss Z,
and they provide the material means we need for our
work. The grace of God is what moved you. You are my
budget. God sees to our needs, as Jesus promised."
Mother Teresa has had more than her fair share of
criticism. In 1994 a British television documentary,
"Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa of Calcutta," accused
her of taking donations without questioning the
sources. She has also received some criticism for
her strong views against abortion and divorce.
Throughout her life Mother was unaffected by
criticism, stating, "No matter who says what, you
should accept it with a smile and do your own work."
In the late 80s her declining health meant that she
could no longer carry on her work as actively as
before. In 1990 she decided to step down as head of
the Misssionaries but was voted back by all but one
(herself). She finally stepped down on March 13
1997. Sister Nirmala was chosen to succeed her.
Nirmala whose name means 'pure' was born into a
Nepali family in the state of Bihar and was trained
as a lawyer before joining Missionaries of Charity.
She had supervised the order's centers in Europe and
the United States and since 1979, led the
contemplative wing of the order, in which nuns
devote their lives to meditation, before she took
over as head of the mission. She is aided in her
work by a council of four members.
Mother Teresa passed away on September 5, 1997
following a massive heart attack. She was 87. The
inscription on her tombstone reads "Love one
another, as I have loved you"
The poor give us much more than we give them.
They're such strong people, living day to day with
no food. And they never curse, never complain. We
don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so
much to learn from them.
Shortly after Mother Teresa's passing, her name was
recommended for sainthood. There is normally a rule
that requires a five-year wait after death to begin
the process of sainthood. But it was waived by the
Pope in her case. Still the formal process of
sainthood will take a couple of years. The church
follows a strict set of rules in the process. First,
to determine who qualifies, the Vatican looks to its
Congregation for the "Causes of Saints" or proof
that the life of the candidate was a model of
holiness. Once the applicant is approved as a
candidate, interviews with people who knew the
candidate are held and a position paper is prepared.
If the evidence proves a life of "heroic virtue",
the person is given the title "venerable" by the
Pope. The next title, beatified (blessed), is
attained if it can be proven that a miracle occurred
after the death of the candidate, the result of
someone praying to that person for help. To finalize
a canonization, it must be established that a second
miracle occurred. Verifying a miracle is considered
the most difficult hurdle in the process.